This is very strong support for a public sector strike. But when
Ipsos MORI asked the same people why they thought junior doctors
were planning to strike. Only 2% of those questioned thought that
it was about the safety of patients, only 1% thought it was about
the safety of healthcare staff and only 3% thought it was about a
disagreement over seven day services in the NHS.

The public are right that long hours and pay are factors in the
strike, but the number one reason given for the strike by the
British Medical Association (BMA), the union that called the
strike, is safety. In the summary of their positions in
the negotiation with the Department for
Health, the BMA put "worrying omissions which mean that the
BMA still has concerns about patient and doctor safety" at the
top of their list of reasons for not reaching an agreement with
the government over the new junior doctor contract.

While it's true that pay and hours are important factors in the
negotiation between the BMA and the department for health, it
seems the public is confused over what problems junior doctors
actually have with the contract that has been offered to
them. For instance, 46% of the public think that the strike is
over "long hours" whereas the actual issue is that the BMA wants
"safer working hours and conditions for junior doctors."

Specifically, the BMA and the Department for Health are in
dispute over points such as what a night shift actually is. The
government says it's any shift which includes three hours
between 11pm and 6am while the BMA says it's any shift that
includes hours after 10pm. There are also various disagreements
over issues such as rest periods and shift patterns.

It's also surprising that only 3% of those questioned by
Ipsos MORI thought that the strike was over "seven-day services
in the NHS." The dispute between the Department for Health and
the BMA does date back to 2012 when
changes to junior doctor contracts were first proposed,
but many of the current sticking points such as shift
pattern changes, stem from a promise made by Prime Minister David
Cameron in the run-up to the 2015 general election to
implement a "truly seven-day
NHS."

The reason the public seem to support junior doctors despite
being unaware of the issues, could be down to the huge popularity
the NHS retains with the general public. A
poll by Ipsos-MORI for British future in
2013 found that 72% of the public viewed the NHS as "a symbol of
what is great about Britain and we must do everything we can to
maintain it."